Today’s tool: BounceBan, the second opinion my outreach agent gets when the first email checker shrugs.
Quick background. Before my agent sends a single outreach email, it runs the address through MillionVerifier. Most addresses come back clean “yes” or clean “no.” But some mail servers say yes to everything. These are called catch-all (or accept-all) domains, and on those the checker can’t tell a real inbox from a made-up one. So it abstains.
That’s where BounceBan comes in. One API call, one address, and you get back a verdict (deliverable, risky, or undeliverable), a score from 0 to 100, and a flag saying whether the domain accepts everything.
The receipt
I pulled my outreach table this morning. 1,648 leads in total, and 407 of them carry a BounceBan verdict:
- 314 deliverable (77%). 259 of those came back with the exact same score: 97.
- 50 risky (12%), almost always scored 50.
- 43 undeliverable (11%), nearly all scored 0.
326 of those 407 notes say the domain was accept-all. That’s the whole job: BounceBan exists for the addresses nothing else can judge.
Did it work? Here’s the honest version. My backlink campaign in Instantly holds 590 leads and has logged 27 bounces, lifetime. 124 of those leads got through on a BounceBan “deliverable.” 2 of them bounced, both pushed in mid-July, both on catch-all domains. The 117 pushed since August have 0 bounces so far.
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“So far” is doing real work in that sentence. Most of those 117 are still partway through a three-step sequence. I’ll call it proven when more of them have finished. And for balance: in that same July batch, 2 addresses that MillionVerifier rated a plain “ok” bounced too. No checker is proof. They’re odds.
What a 97 actually means
A server that accepts every address can’t confirm any single one. So BounceBan’s 97 on an accept-all domain isn’t “this inbox exists.” It’s “this very likely exists.” That’s a good bet, not a guarantee, and my agent’s rules are written that way:
- Only send it the catch-alls. Addresses MillionVerifier already answered never go to BounceBan. No point paying twice for the same answer.
- Trust a “no” from a normal server. If BounceBan says undeliverable and the domain is not accept-all, that’s a real rejection, and it beats a late “ok” from the first checker.
- Repeat a “no” from an accept-all server. One negative on a catch-all domain is weak. My agent checks it a second time. If it reproduces, the lead is marked invalid. If it doesn’t, it’s marked risky, not thrown away.
- A timeout is not a verdict. BounceBan gives up after about 80 seconds and returns an error with no result in it. Code that reads “no result” as “bad address” quietly deletes good leads. Retry once, then mark it risky.
- Send a browser User-Agent. Called from a Python script with the default User-Agent, both checkers turned my agent away with a 403 before checking anything. Same key, same address, it works when the request looks like a browser.
Rules 3 and 4 came from real misses. Before them, my agent was marking reachable inboxes as dead because one call timed out or one weak “no” came back. Those were warm, relevant sites, just gone.
What it costs me
BounceBan sells credits, either pay-as-you-go or on a monthly plan. Its pricing page (checked this morning) says each successful check uses 1 credit, and unused credits don’t expire. My account has 844 left. Because it only sees the catch-alls, it gets a fraction of the volume that MillionVerifier does, which is exactly the point.
The takeaway: if your outreach tool has an “unknown” or “catch-all” bucket, don’t send to it blind and don’t throw it away. Run those addresses through a second checker, store the score next to the lead, and treat that score as odds, not proof. Then check your bounce numbers in a month and see if the odds held.
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AI & Digital Marketing Strategist
With over 25 years in digital marketing, e-commerce, sales, and international business, Jon Jones is a seasoned entrepreneur dedicated to empowering small businesses through innovative AI solutions. His journey began in investment banking on Wall Street, guiding companies through capital acquisition and complex markets, and has expanded to include expertise in web development, brand design, product development, and courses and training.
Fluent in Mandarin and with a rich foundation in both finance and tech, Jon launched JonJones.ai to provide accessible, transformative tools for small businesses to streamline operations, generate leads, and build sustainable growth. His mastery of AI, automation, and digital strategy has enabled numerous businesses to bridge the gap between traditional practices and modern technology, ensuring they thrive in today’s digital landscape.
